Thursday, October 7, 2021
The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday against mask requirements for K-12 schools in Pima County.
Supervisor Matt Heinz presented the proposal for masks in schools in response to research from the Centers for Disease Control and Pima County.
Pima County recently co-authored a study with the CDC that found K-12 schools without mask requirements in Pima and Maricopa counties were 3.5 times more likely to have a COVID outbreak than schools with mask mandates.
“In light of the information that literally came from this county and Maricopa County in Arizona and the CDC,” Heinz said, “I think it makes a lot of sense for us to take a look at this again.”
Heinz reiterated his view that masks protect students and teachers from COVID and that data supported his opinion.
Dr. Francisco Garcia, Pima County's chief medical officer, was asked to discuss the potential mandate with all 12 school district superintendents in Pima County. He presented their feedback during the board's regular meeting.
WASHINGTON – Robocalls to Arizonans dropped by more than 3 million in July, to about 84.4 million for the month, as the first phase of a new federal mandate took effect that requires phone companies to implement anti-robocall measures.
But consumer advocates say phone carriers could be doing more.
A report last month by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund found that just 16 of the 49 largest phone companies in the country had fully implemented the STIR/SHAKEN technology by a Sept. 28 deadline, and another 18 had partially implemented it.
In Arizona, of the 18 that reported to the Federal Communications Commission, seven said they had completely integrated the system and 11 had partially done so. Another provider in the state had not reported to the FCC by Sept. 28, USPIRG said.
The FCC regulation gave the five largest carriers a June 30 deadline to install the STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited)/SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs) system, which lets providers authenticate caller ID in an attempt to reduce spoofed robocalls. Smaller carriers were given until Sept. 28 to report their progress on the new program.
The FCC did not respond to calls on the progress of the providers. But Diane Brown, executive director of ArizonaPIRG Education Fund, said the companies are falling short.
“Our research documented that over half of the companies that reported their status to the Federal Communications Commission were not using the industry standards, but instead were using their own methods to manage robocalls,” Brown said.
“Companies should always use the highest standard to protect consumers,” which Brown said is STIR/SHAKEN.
That was echoed by YouMail CEO Alex Quilici.
“It’s definitely not enough for these guys to create their own plan,” said Quilici, whose company tracks spam and robocalls.
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona ignored Karina Ruiz, a local leader who advocates for immigrant communities, when the activist approached her on a flight to Washington, D.C., Monday to urge the senator to commit to passing a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.
In a video she posted on social media, Ruiz walked down the airplane aisle and stopped next to Sinema, who was sitting in an aisle seat with a laptop in front of her and wireless earbuds in her ears.
“I’m being vulnerable right now to you. My dad passed away last year, and he didn’t get to reunite with my family. I don’t want to disturb you, but at the same time, I want to see if I can get a commitment from you, Senator,” Ruiz said.
Sinema sat silently, staring down.
“This is my life and the life of millions,” Ruiz continued. “I’d just like to hear from you. Can we get a commitment from you to get a pathway to citizenship for millions like me?”
Sinema continued to sit silently, staring down.
“All right, Senator, you don’t want to respond. Thank you for your time,” Ruiz said, and walked away.
You can do more than be sorry for my loss, you can deliver us citizenship. I don't recognize you @SenatorSinema you organized marches against SB1070, and now that we need you remain silent & ignored me, unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/wyYGVw0WG3
— Karina Ruiz (@KarinaIRuiz) October 4, 2021
For years, Ruiz has pushed for different versions of federal legislation that would give thousands of immigrants like her, who arrived in the country at a young age, and her family a pathway to citizenship. Locally, as a leader of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, Ruiz has worked to reform state laws that prevent undocumented students from accessing in-state tuition.
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Thanks to University of Arizona golf star David Laskin, every UA student, faculty member and staffer will be able to access the Wall Street Journal for free.
When Laskin was named the Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year, two UA alumni donated $200,000 in his honor to be used for the men's golf team and the Eller College of Management’s Department of Finance.
“I remembered that I’d had to buy the Wall Street Journal for some of my classes, so, in talking with my dad, he suggested figuring out a way to give access to it. That made a lot of sense to make it accessible for students.”
Through their memberships, students, faculty and staff will have unlimited access to WSJ.com, WSJ apps, podcasts, curated newsletters and more. Those that currently have memberships may be eligible for partial refunds when they switch to their school-sponsored subscription.
Students, faculty and staff can visit WSJ.com/UArizona to access their free subscription. For more, visit eller.arizona.edu.
WASHINGTON – Duane Garvais-Lawrence pulled into Washington, D.C., Friday, ending his second annual coast-to-coast trip to bring attention to the problem of missing and murdered Indigenous women – a trip he hopes he does not have to make again.
“The blood on this RV … is on America’s conscience,” Garvais-Lawrence said of the red names of victims written on the side of the vehicle. “Enough is enough.”
Garvais-Lawrence left Washington state on July 18 and has spent the months since driving from reservation to reservation as part of his MMIW Bike Run USA. At each stop along the way, he and others who joined him on the trek would bike, run and pray to raise awareness of the issue – and at each stop, they would add names of victims to the side of the motor home in red ink.
Included in those names were Dande S. Parks and Tashing Shepherd of Arizona.
“There are probably few American Indians that haven’t been touched by MMIW,” said Patricia Hibbeler, chief executive officer for the Phoenix Indian Center and a member of the state’s Study Committee on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
“If it’s not somebody in our family, we know of someone – or relative of someone – that sadly has been murdered or missing,” she said.
The committee Hibbeler served on was created by lawmakers in 2019 to “conduct a comprehensive study to determine how this state can reduce and end violence against indigenous women and girls.” It painted a grim picture of the situation.
More than 80% of Native American women, or more than 1.5 million people, have experienced violence in their lifetimes and 56% suffered sexual violence, the report said. One in three had experienced violence in the past three years.
Indigenous women were 1.2 times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to experience violence in their lifetimes and 1.7 times more likely to have experienced it in the previous year.
Health officials praised Pima County for surpassing other Arizona counties in COVID vaccinations during the University of Arizona status update on Monday, Oct 4.
Pima County’s new goal is to administer as many vaccines as possible, rather than pursuing herd immunity, officials said.
Dr. Theresa Cullen, Pima County public health director, discussed the latest COVID information ahead of Family Weekend at UA.
Cullen said that Pima County is doing significantly better than other Arizona counties in vaccination and COVID cases. Pima County is still considered to have high transmissibility of the virus with more than 100 cases reported out of 100,000 people, but remains better than most counties in Arizona.
The Arizona Department of Health Services reported a continuous rise and fall of cases in Pima County since March 2020. Dr. Cullen said this "bumping" can be tackled through vaccination.
The county is not pursuing so-called "herd immunity" anymore because of the rise of the Delta variant, Cullen said. Health officials had previously told the public they were hoping to reach herd immunity where most of the population would be vaccinated or have COVID antibodies, so the virus would not be able to spread as easily. As the virus continues to evolve with stronger variants, herd immunity is no longer feasible, she said.
“The Delta variant has high transmissibility, which means more people get infected if more people have that variant,” Cullen said, “We need a higher rate of vaccination.”
Vaccinations make it difficult for viruses to mutate. An unvaccinated individual is more likely to contract the virus and become a host for mutations. These mutations turn into variants, including the Delta variant. COVID vaccines are proving effective in protecting people from the most dangerous symptoms of the virus and its variants.
Cullen reported that Pima County is still reporting COVID deaths every day. Pima County COVID deaths are at 2,660, according to AZDHS.
“As the deaths increase, we’ll all know somebody who knows somebody who has died, or has significant morbidity, or who has long COVID,” Cullen said.
University of Arizona President Robert Robbins discussed his experience receiving the polio vaccine as a child. He said he was disappointed that vaccines have become a political debate.
“I remember polio, there was never this talk about it being a political issue,” Robbins said, “We were just so happy that someone invented a vaccine and brought it to our small town.”
Monday, October 4, 2021
The Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona has changed its name to the Women’s Foundation for the State of Arizona and will expand the scope of its work to more formally include women and girls throughout the state.
“Decades of experience and proven positive outcomes make us qualified to add the State as a whole to our focus so we can achieve a greater impact,” said Amalia Luxardo, WFSA CEO.
“Our research and legislative advocacy work have included and benefited the state for several years. We feel that at this moment in time – after watching the pandemic destroy decades of momentum for women in mere months – it is essential that we scale the rest of our work to impact women and girls across Arizona.”
WFSA also launched a survey on Monday, Oct. 4, to learn about the issues facing women and girls in the state, and help identify opportunities for future legislative policy, grants, and pilot programs. Survey results will be available in December.
To access the statewide survey, visit womengiving.org or survey.alchemer.com/s3/6540060/AZIssuesSurvey
